The afterlife and existence after death

Hi again. A note beforehand: I dont know that much about buddhism, so dont blame me for stating something that isnt accurate.But please, correct me :) Thats why im posting this afterall. Im speculating and i propably need some of your thoughts on that to get it right.

So, i recently stumbled across buddhism(-> Zen buddhism to be precisely).As you may be aware of, buddhism contains stuff like nothingness, voidness and the loss of the self. I guess. Still though, many buddhistic interpretations still got some sort of "afterlife". I dont know, i cant bring that stuff together there. How exactly is buddhism dealing with something like that? I assume that when we lose our self the "true self" could emerge or something like that(enlightment?). I have to be honest here, i dont know enough about buddhism to know what could be the case here. Thats why im asking. How can buddhism integrate something after our physical deaths while promoting the loss of self and spiritual enlightment (-> nothingness as a goal?)? I know about reincarnation and all that stuff, but i dont get how the whole thing makes sense.

http://www.patheos.com/Library/Zen/Beliefs/Afterlife-and-Salvation.html

Stuff like that is telling me that there is no definite interpretation. The whole thing is versatile i guess. Even so, i cant really imagine a salvation and a "afterlife" under those assumptions.
 
what is the consensus on things like :

-do we eat and drink in the afterlife ?
-do we still learn ?
-do Religions still exist ?
-do we make sports ?
-do we make love ?
-do we watch Tv and listen Music ?

I can't believe that being a spirit mean "doing nothing".
 
what is the consensus on things like :

-do we eat and drink in the afterlife ?
-do we still learn ?
-do Religions still exist ?
-do we make sports ?
-do we make love ?
-do we watch Tv and listen Music ?

I can't believe that being a spirit mean "doing nothing".
According to my most reliable source here, the answers are

- do we eat and drink in the afterlife ? YES
-do we still learn ? YES
-do Religions still exist ? YES (in an interior sense)
-do we make sports ? maybe
-do we make love ? YES!
-do we watch Tv and listen Music ? maybe, YES!
 
what is the consensus on things like :

-do we eat and drink in the afterlife ?
-do we still learn ?
-do Religions still exist ?
-do we make sports ?
-do we make love ?
-do we watch Tv and listen Music ?

I can't believe that being a spirit mean "doing nothing".

Well if there are spirits its highly unlikely that those dont do anything at all. I also dont believe that they would be doing the same as us humans. I mean, they wouldnt "live" like us, right? They would have a whole lot of other possibilities. They could try to draw conclusions from their previous life. They could experience things that we cant even imagine. Hell, they could even create their own worlds and live there. The possibilities seem atleast to me endless. Maybe they want to experience a bit more of that cool physical lifestyle they had down on earth and they reincarnate? :) Who knows. They propably arent even nearly as restricted as us.
 
On Roberta Grimes's Afterlife Forums, there's a fascinating lady on there who says her son has been communicating with her from the Other Side for the past few years. There have been many times they covered questions like that, maybe you might check it out. I know you'll have to take a large grain of salt to hear her out, there are so many purported psychics and mediums out there, but there is a video on there of how she communicates, and... well, at first I was skeptical, but after a few minutes of watching, it's very intriguing.
 
what is the consensus on things like :

-do we eat and drink in the afterlife ?
-do we still learn ?
-do Religions still exist ?
-do we make sports ?
-do we make love ?
-do we watch Tv and listen Music ?

I can't believe that being a spirit mean "doing nothing".

On subjects like this, it makes sense to compare multiple sources. There are some ideas in the interview with John McGinnis here. (14.1 MB)
http://www.loatoday.net/mp3/0213/2013-02-26-john-mcginnis.mp3
 
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A favorite quote of mine on this topic is from Ralph Waldo Emerson from his essay "Immortality":

"I have a house, a closet which holds my books, a table, a garden, a field: are these, any or all, a reason for refusing the angel who beckons me away, - as if there were no room or skill elsewhere that could reproduce for me as my like or my enlarging wants may require?"

So there's that. Assuming consciousness does survive, and I sure as hell am not 100% certain, and I am not in any rush to find out. But if NDEs are exactly what they appear to be, then there seems to be indications of much more heightened faculties, profound emotions that have often been described as ineffable by many NDE accounts (and Death Experience accounts see Moody's more recent book). Apparently every single detail of one's life can be experienced in a few seconds, though many NDErs claim time is somehow different.

In the many mediumship accounts, you have a wide variety of stories about the afterlife. Given the variety it's hard to really believe any one of them tbh. I find the research in the NDEs more solid ground, and some work in death bed visions, and the apparition work of the early SPR. In all of them, love is often repeatedly mentioned. Love and light as the fundamental basis of being and the experience communicated of the afterlife. Loved ones are often present to greet those passing over. Beyond that, I would perhaps go with Emerson here - if reality has already provided me with what I have here and now, in this life, why should I not expect it (whatever it is) to provide - to reproduce for me more of what it has already demonstrated it can provide?

This is all conjecture of course. But I do think that the argument that everything comes from nothing, or that somehow random elements somehow magically came together to form the complexity of the human brain and consciousness itself, has never made a lick of sense. But beyond that, I'm groping like everyone else for clues to the big mystery.

My Best,
Bertha
 
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Someone in this forum mentioned this guy some time ago and i did look him up. Idk about the philosophy behind him or anything, but hes saying some true words here. Especially stuff like that we are as dead as we can be right now gives me some thoughts.

 
what is the consensus on things like :

-do we eat and drink in the afterlife ?
-do we still learn ?
-do Religions still exist ?
-do we make sports ?
-do we make love ?
-do we watch Tv and listen Music ?

I can't believe that being a spirit mean "doing nothing".

As above, so below.

edit: (except religion)
 
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